Crane construction gripping device and communication method thereof

Abstract

For procedural safety, a gripping device for a crane hook for safely removing a hook from a forklift may include a sensor and a method of communicating the open and closed status of the hook to a crane cab for the driver to be notified. The gripping device can include a handle, having a trigger coupled to a cable seated within a central rod. A pair of jaws may couple to the central rod and a finger may couple to one jaw, wherein the cable is seated within the one jaw and the finger, which can swing about a hinge. As such, when the trigger is actuated while the hook is positioned between the pair of jaws, the cable is pulled, which pulls the finger down to open a latch of the crane hook. When the trigger is released, the cable is released and the finger retracts up.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A gripping device for a crane hook, comprising:
 a handle, having a trigger coupled to a cable;   a central rod coupled to the handle, wherein the cable is seated inside the central rod; and   a grip, having a pair of jaws, coupled to the central rod; wherein each jaw having a magnet coupled thereto;   a finger coupled to one of the pair of jaws, wherein the cable couples to the interior of the finger to control the movement of the finger;   wherein when a crane hook is placed near the pair of jaws, the pair of magnets exert magnetic force upon the crane hook to connect the pair of jaws within the gap formed by the pair of jaws to stabilize the crane hook;   wherein when the trigger is actuated, the trigger pulls the cable and the cable pulls the finger down to open a latch of the crane hook and when the trigger is released, the trigger releases the cable and the finger retracts up.   
     
     
         2 . The gripping device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a jaw-adjusting bracket coupled between the central rod and the pair of jaws to change the width of the grasping defined by the pair of jaws.   
     
     
         3 . The gripping device of  claim 2 , wherein the jaw-adjusting bracket comprises,
 a first fixed jaw of the pair of jaws;   a second adjustable jaw, having a joint, wherein the joint having a worm thread;   a worm screw movably coupled to the worm thread, wherein when the worm screw is rotated about the worm thread, the second adjustable jaw moves a relative distance away from the first fixed jaw, to change the grasping width defined by the pair of jaws.   
     
     
         4 . The gripping device of  claim 2 , wherein the jaw-adjusting bracket comprises,
 a first set of grooves, wherein a fork portion of a first one of the pair of jaws slidably couples to the jaw-adjusting bracket;   a second set of grooves, wherein a fork portion of a second one of the pair of jaws slidably couples to the jaw-adjusting bracket, wherein when the plurality of magnets coupled to the pair of jaws are attracted to the crane hook, the pair of jaws slidably move to form a smaller grasping width.   
     
     
         5 . The gripping device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a sensor coupled to the finger to detect contact between the finger and the latch of the crane hook and designate an open and closed state of the latch.   
     
     
         6 . The gripping device of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 a first transceiver coupled to receive the detected contact from the sensor; and   wherein, a second transceiver of a crane cab coupled to the first transceiver to receive the open and closed state of the latch of the crane hook for driver notice of the open and closed state.   
     
     
         7 . The gripping device of  claim 6 , wherein the first transceiver comprises,
 a receiver coupled to the sensor to receive the detected contact; and   a transmitter coupled to the receiver to transmit the open and closed state of the latch of the crane hook to the second transceiver.   
     
     
         8 . The gripping device of  claim 6 , wherein the transmitter and the transceiver are enabled to communicate by one or more of the plurality of communication utilities: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, RFID, and GSM. 
     
     
         9 . The gripping device of  claim 1 , wherein a portion of the central rod, the grip, the pair of jaws, and the finger, are selected from the group of cast iron, aluminum, stainless steel, steel, brass, copper, bronze, fiberglass, and polymeric materials. 
     
     
         10 . The gripping device of  claim 1 , wherein the material of the pair of magnets is selected from the group consisting of ferromagnetic materials, including iron, steel, nickel, and cobalt. 
     
     
         11 . The gripping device of  claim 1 , wherein the central rod comprises,
 a first cylindrical portion;   a second cylindrical portion, having an interior flexible rod and a plurality of plates coupled to the interior rod to surround the interior flexible rod, such that the second cylindrical portion is flexible, wherein the central rod can be placed in a predetermined shape for reaching the crane hook from a plurality of angles.   
     
     
         12 . The gripping device of  claim 2 , wherein the jaw-adjusting bracket further comprises,
 a swivel member coupled to the central rod, wherein the jaw-adjusting bracket can swivel 360 degrees around an axis of the central rod.   
     
     
         13 . A method of communicating a crane hook open and closed state with a crane cab performed by a processor-based data processing module, comprising:
 detecting contact between a finger of a gripping device and a latch of the crane hook by a sensor in a client unit;   indicating, in response to the detected contact, the open state of the crane hook by a transceiver of the client unit;   indicating, in response to absence of the detected contact, the closed state of the crane hook by the transceiver of the client unit;   transmitting the open and closed state to a transceiver of a crane server unit by the transceiver of the client unit; and   displaying the open and closed state on a display in the crane cab coupled to the transceiver of the crane server unit.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the detecting the contact comprises,
 sensing a first juxtapose position of a magnet of a pair of jaws of the gripping device with the crane hook using the sensor;   sensing, in response to the sensed first juxtapose position, a second juxtapose position of the finger of the gripping device with the latch of the crane hook using the sensor; and   affirming, in response to the sensed second juxtapose position, the contact between a finger of a gripping device and a latch of the crane hook exists using a processor of the client unit.   
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including code for performing a method, the method comprising:
 detecting contact between a finger of a gripping device and a latch of the crane hook by a sensor in a client unit;   indicating, in response to the detected contact, the open state of the crane hook by a transceiver of the client unit;   indicating, in response to absence of the detected contact, the closed state of the crane hook by the transceiver of the client unit   transmitting the open and closed state to a transceiver of the crane cab by the transceiver of the client unit; and   displaying the open and closed state on a display in the crane cab coupled to the transceiver of the crane server unit.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the detecting the contact comprises,
 sensing a first juxtapose position of a magnet of a pair of jaws of the gripping device with the crane hook using the sensor;   sensing, in response to the sensed first juxtapose position, a second juxtapose position of the finger of the gripping device with the latch of the crane hook using the sensor; and   affirming, in response to the sensed second juxtapose position, the contact between a finger of a gripping device and a latch of the crane hook exists using a processor of the client unit.